Disney Kneels Before The State: Bans 'Junkfood' Ads

If only Hollywood were as outraged by things that truly cause real human misery: loveless sex, all-about-me narcissism, chasing celebrity, Islamic terrorists, and the Harry Potter film franchise.

Anyway, isn’t the child obesity problem (if there really is such a thing) really caused by companies like Disney who create the kind of 24/7 television and online content that keeps kids in front of their electronic devices? But let’s attack the food industry, even though the entertainment industry’s product is even more to blame for sedentary kids than a Big Gulp. There was plenty of junk food when I was a kid. What we didn’t have was 24/7 popular culture that was more addicting than running around outside.

The conglomerate’s child-focused radio stations and Web sites will also launch strict standards for food ads, which CEO Bob Iger is expected to unveil with First Lady Michelle Obama.

The Walt Disney Co. will on Tuesday unveil plans to keep junk food ads off its child-focused TV networks, radio stations and Web sites, the New York Times reported.

Under the new rules designed to help fight childhood obesity, food commercials must comply with strict nutritional standards, which also apply to Saturday morning cartoons shown on ABC stations owned by the conglomerate, it said.

That means that products, such as Capri Sun drinks and Kraft Lunchables meals, which are both current Disney advertisers, would be blocked from Disney’s kids-focused media properties, according to the paper. So would a range of candy, sugared cereal and fast food. Disney’s restrictions focus on any content targeted to children under the age of 12, whether live-action programs or cartoons.

Disney chairman Bob Iger is expected to make the announcement about the new initiative in Washington with First Lady Michelle Obama.

The ban on junk food ads is part of a broader Disney commitment that will also include the promise to reduce the amount of sodium in children’s meals served at its theme parks by 25 percent, the Times said. Disney will also produce public service announcements to promote exercise and healthy eating among children.

This is all about Disney dodging its own responsibility and fearing lawsuits from bottom-feeding trial lawyers and the government — fear of being the next tobacco industry Treasury cash cow.

Rather than fight, they all roll over like dogs.

I’m something of a health nut who watches what he eats and exercises regularly. But this whole War on Food crusade is about liberty. People have a right to eat what they want and to choose for themselves if that right is worth the physical consequences.

The left’s rebuttal is always the same: Well, we have to pay the health care costs for the obese.

Yes, we do, but the cost of liberty is not always fair — but it’s worth every damn penny.

And our obesity problem is also a product of control. When I was a kid, I watched plenty of television but also spent a ton of time outside living that Little Rascals kind of life with my friends.

Today, though, it’s all about bike helmets and “play dates.” All the fun and freedom associated with exploring your neighborhood with a gang of pals has been crushed by overbearing nonsense.

You want to make sure a kid doesn’t spend as much time exercising on a bike as he normally might – stick one of those garish, stupid-looking helmets on his head.